MSPA is proud to announce that Oxford High School’s award-winning student newspaper, The Charger, is once against receiving national recognition for excellence as a 2014 National Scholastic Press Association Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist.

Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Washington, D.C.

“It takes a lot of work just to enter one of these contests, much less to be recognized as a finalist,” MSPA director R.J. Morgan said. “OHS is a great example of how our Mississippi students, when motivated, can compete with the brightest kids in the country.”

The NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker contest has recognized general excellence in scholastic newspaper for 87 years, and this year the national contest yielded approximately 300 entries. The Charger nominated in the “Newspaper Broadsheet 9-16 pages” category.

The content under consideration for this competition consists of work done by students during the 2013-2014 school year, under the direction of adviser Cynthia Ferguson.

This year The Charger welcomed a new adviser, John Wilbert, who said the nomination is a special honor for the newspaper staff.

“Cynthia Ferguson and her staff did a tremendous job in producing such quality work,” he said. “As a new adviser at Oxford High, I’m just blown away by the exceptional work are student journalists are producing on a daily basis.”

Wilbert said there were so many excellent publications produced last year that he had to go back with the staff and find the ones responsible for the recognition.

“Credit also goes to the administration for allowing us to practice as actual journalists and providing us the necessary resources and support to excel at a high level,” he said. “This is truly a special honor for our Charger newspaper staff.”

For more information on The Charger and Oxford High School, visit thechargeronline.com.